Holiday Traditions
by Deer Flower
Summary: The village is once again celebrating Snoggletog.However, Hiccup has been noticing that their new friend, Marice, has been feeling homesick about the holiday.While Hiccup and the gang work to cheer up Marice, she has her own way of cheering up someone for the holidays. No current pairings.
1. Heights

Well this story has been on my mind for a week now but I've finally had enough time to write it out. I came up with the OC during the 'Lightening Strikes' episode and my mind kept thinking of a girl who thought Hiccup seemed a lot like Job from the Bible. After that, it's all just a large, outlined blur.

I was actually thinking about adding in my own character but just couldn't think of the storyline or who they should be. So when my imagination came up with Marice's character I instantly knew what I wanted to do. Now I may end up messing around with the time period and such but Marice is a Christian during the Renaissance period in Italy. For the record, I am no way trying to convert anyone or trying to disrespect anyone's beliefs. Rather, it's more like I'm trying to show that most Christians are actually tolerant of other beliefs if they are given the same tolerance. I hope I made that clear.

Now I know Snoggletog is just a HTTYD version Christmas, but I thought it would be neat for an outsider to experience their celebration while also adding some of their own traditions into it.

That's the back story for this chapter and as for the OC, my mind is already forming a story that will explain Marice. I'm not sure when I will have it published but it probably won't be until after I finish this story. I'm hoping to finish this by Christmas, December 25th, but if not then sometime the week or two after it if I have time.

Well thanks for reading this really long Author's Note and if there are any questions, feel free to ask.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'How to Train Your Dragon' or anything associated with it. This story is for pure entertainment only.

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This winter on Berk is actually one of the warmer winters they've had in the past years. Piles of snow were seen along the village edge along with long icicles hanging from the roof rafters, until one of the dragons bumped into the house and knocked them off.

At this time of the year the village was once again preparing for their annual winter holiday, Snoggletog. Just like last year the villagers were setting up for it by decorating their houses, baking food, putting up shields on the tree, stuff like that. The only difference however was that the dragons didn't seem to be going to their island this year. No one really knew why but the Academy students, well more like Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Marcie, came up with an idea that they only had babies every few years. It actually makes sense because almost all of last year's babies were still… babies, only five times bigger.

Watching over all these activities from the skies was Stoick sitting majestically atop Thornado. A huge grin was on his face as he watched Gobber trying to look serious wearing his antlers and bells.

"Isn't this great, Thornado?" Stoick asked, receiving a low rumble from the dragon. "This winter seems to be one of the tamer ones, my people are fed, the dragons are not destroying the village as much, and everything seems to be in peace."

Thornado's only answer was a louder rumble from his throat, seeming to agree with Stoick's statement. Giving his dragon a light pat he continued, "This is the first time you and some others are celebrating Snoggletog with us. Last year's celebration had been the best one so far, but I have a feeling this year's will be even better."

On the other side of the island the riders waited on top of their dragons along with Marice, who stood in front of them. The girl was around the same age as the others but was about Hiccup's size. Her usually hip length brown hair was tied back into a tight braid and her green eyes playfully gleamed against her slightly pale face. She wore clothing similar to what the women in the village wore but added on a furred vest with a hood attached. Around her neck laid a small wooden cross that had never been seen to have left her neck. Despite her small size her strength was about the same as Astrid's and had proven herself to be able to calculate any situation and use it to her advantage.

Pulling a loose strand of hair back Marice told the group, "Now the rules of this game are simple: ride your sleds, or dragons, down this hill dodging trees, rocks, and anything else that you would usually hit. You are not allowed to shoot at the other riders and if you fall off your dragon or get stuck, you're out of the game. First one to make it to the bottom," she pointed down to the bottom of the hill that was almost 15 miles down, "wins. Now any question?"

Fishlegs timidly raised his hand. "Yes, Legs?" "Um yes, how exactly are you planning on getting down?" "Excellent question," Marice answered, walking to the outside of the group to pull out what she called a sled.

The thing was made out of dark wood that was perfectly cut and held together by steel bars with sharpened Nadder spikes on the bottom. The front of it had the wood curved back to help her stay on. On the sides were two tightly rolled up materials with a thin metal pole in the middle of them.

Setting the sled down beside Fishlegs she said, "You guys may have dragons, but I know a thing or two about snow and gravity." "I thought you said you spent most of your time at sea," Snotlout commented, "and what's gravity? Is it better looking than me?" This earned him an eye roll from Hiccup and Astrid along with the dragons.

"I did, but my family and I did spend some time on land during seasons like this. Now who's ready to get their butts whooped?"

"Ha in your dreams," Tuffnut snickered while Ruffnut added, "Yeah. That little sled of yours is no match for our dragon." Their Zippleback lifted its heads up higher as if to prove it.

A wide smirk spread across Marice's face as she stood on top of her sled saying, "I may not have a dragon, but I got something that's close to it." The others looked on as she grabbed the strings on the rolls.

In almost the blink of any eye, the two pieces of cloths widened out as the poles quickly shot up into Marice's waiting hands. The cloth was a dark brown and seemed to be made out of a very light but durable looking material that stretched out about five feet from the sled. The girl had grabbed the poles at an angle so the cloth looked almost like dragon wings.

The whole group looked impressed at the contraction, except for Hiccup who crossed his arms and tried to look angry saying, "That sure does look a lot like the missing material I use for Toothless' tail, and I'm pretty sure I was experimenting with those rods."

"Well it was lying around in the shop," Marice answered, sliding one foot to the curved front while putting her weight on the other leg, "And I figured that nice, selfless Hiccup wouldn't mind if I 'borrowed' them for a while."

Toothless gave what sounded like a small laugh while Hiccup just said, "It doesn't really matter what you did to your sled, we're still going to win right bud?" "Think again, Hiccup," Astrid called out, "Stormfly and I are winning this one."

"If everyone is ready then," Marice said, looking to the side as a light blue Terrible Terror was quietly napping. She let out a low whistle and the Terror sat up. "Give the signal, Violet."

The small dragon stretched out its wings and flew in front of the group. For ten seconds it did a weird serious of circles, stared into each of the dragons' eyes, and puffed out its little chest in an effort to look tough. Though all it did was earn a small chuckle from the other dragons.

Finally it shot a small flame into the sky and quickly joined with Marice as the teens started down the hill.

It didn't take two minutes before Fishlegs quickly slid off course, where he and Meatlug collided with a tree. He muttered a small "I'm okay" while the others continued down.

Tuffnut and Ruffnut had the slight lead while Hiccup, Astrid, and Marice were close behind. Snotlout tried in vain to steer Hookfang around the others but the dragon just ignored his rider. Out of what seemed like spite, the Monstrous Nightmare bucked his rider off and dug its talons into the snow, stopping a few feet in front of his stunned and cold rider.

Marice allowed herself to look back for a second but was quickly called back to the front from Violet, who sat on her shoulder screeching at a tree they were quickly approaching. Smiling the girl maneuvered the right 'wing' to fold in and the sled easily missed the obstacle.

Hiccup and Toothless also had experienced the same thing but without any though, they also dodged it perfectly. Astrid had a little more difficulty as Stormfly's spikes caught some of the branches but they managed to shake it off and join with the other two.

Ruff and Tuff however were heading right toward a very thick tree and each wanted the other to go their way. The result was two dragon heads on either side of the tree while the twins were sent flying off.

Out of the three remaining teens, Marice was ahead of the other two by only a few meters. "Hiccup! She's going to win," Astrid called out. The boy's face grew serious for a second before it brightened back up. "I have an idea!"

The Nadder rider looked at him in slight confusion but let out an understanding smile as the two quickly came up on the sides of the sled. By the time Marice realized what was going on the other two had already positioned their dragons in front of her and let them spread out their wings.

Muttering a small curse under her breath the girl cried out, "That's cheating!" "We have no idea what you're talking about!" Hiccup answered her, earning a small laugh from Astrid. "You never said anything about blocking a rider you know."

Slightly huffing the girl tried plowing through but the riders kept their dragons far enough to be out of her reach but close enough to keep her behind them. Violet let out a frustrated growl but then noticed her friend's face let out a calculating smile.

Quickly Marice retracted the sled's 'wings' and ducked down as she slid under the dragons' wings. When she managed to make it out, she opened the wings back up and looked behind her to give the stunned riders a smug smile.

Before the two could recover Marice had already gained the lead and crossed the finish marker. Using her leg as a peg, Marice stopped the sled and did a slight turn just as Hiccup and Astrid crossed the line together.

When the two looked up at her they let out a small laugh as the three grouped up and watched the others begin to join them on their dragons. "Oh man!" Fishlegs exclaimed, tree branches sticking out of his clothes and helmet, "That was so cool Marice! The way you just quickly ducked under the two like that! That was awesome."

"Not bad for your first time sledding here," Ruffnut praised. Tuffnut added, "Yeah not bad. But just wait, we'll beat you next time."

"Please," Snotlout interrupted, leaning on Hookfang who was staring at the sky, "Hookfang and I could have easily overtaken you." "Then why did Hookfang decide to buck you off and stare at the sky?" Astrid teased, only receiving an open mouth from the dense Viking.

"Well I'll admit," Hiccup started, gently rubbing Toothless, "That was pretty good for someone without a dragon for dragon sledding." "Thanks," Marice said, looking at the others, "But I have a good black smith teacher who likes to leave his stuff around the shop."

Hiccup rolled his eyes while Fishlegs said, "Hey guys shouldn't we head back to get ready for Snoggletog?" "Oh yeah we almost forgot," Astrid added, jumping on Stormfly. The rest of the riders did likewise and Marice climbed up behind Toothless, adjusting two straps under the sled so she could wear it on her shoulders so her arms could wrap around Hiccup. Violet flew off her friend's shoulder and went near Toothless' head.

As the dragons took off the girl took in a quick breath and tried not to look down. Despite riding with the others for a few months now, the girl was still almost terrified of heights. "You know," she started off, earning the other's attention, "from what you have told me so far about Snoggletog, it sounds a lot like our winter holiday of Christmas."

"Christmas? Sounds boring," Ruffnut commented. "Oh it's anything but boring," Marice answered, gently tightening her arms. "It's my favorite time of the year. My family and I always take off from the trading business and go all out for the season, though we may go over board with everything."

"You guys can't be as bad as Gobber around this time," Hiccup interrupted, "Every year he practically buries the shop with decorations and only wears his sleigh bells and antler helmet." "If you think that's bad you should see our mom," Ruffnut added, "She goes on her annual baking spree but won't let anyone eat anything until it's time." "Yeah. One night she caught us trying to steal from the kitchen and the next thing we know, there's an axe stuck to the wall about an inch above our heads," Tuffnut finished.

"At least parents don't randomly start singing carols in the middle of the night," Astrid said, letting out a shiver, "and really off key, too."

Marice let out a low chuckle as she heard this and said, "Are you kidding me? That's one of my favorite things about Christmas. We would go out singing into the forest to chop down a tree then we would sing all the way back until we got home. Once we set up the tree, we spend the whole day adding decorations on it like pine cones, flowers, small trinkets, and candles. Then we would decorate the whole house in boughs of holly, ivy, wood carvings, angels, even a small nativity scene right above our fireplace. Our mom would then go into the kitchen for hours and won't let us in until the room is all most flooded with sweets. Finally we spend the night in front of the tree and each of us takes turns lighting the candles one by one and light the top one together. All the while we would sing, tell stories, and just enjoy the time being together."

"Wow it sounds like you guys really enjoy spending the holidays together," Fishlegs responded. "Yeah," Marice said, letting her face drop into a sad smile, "we really do."

Noticing how sad the girl was getting, Hiccup asked, "So you mentioned a nativity. What exactly is that?" "Well the whole point of Christmas is to getting ready for our savior to be born among men. The Nativity is just a barn scene with animals and a manger that Mary and Joseph go to because they could not go to an inn. When Jesus was born his mother placed him in a manger and all over the land the people noticed a bright star pointing them towards the baby. It's quite humbling actually to think that the man who was sent to save us was born in a simple barn."

"Born in a barn? Are you serious?" Snotlout said, flexing one of his muscles, "If it were me I would choose to be born right on top of the mountain where people could see how awesome I am. Then before they leave, they have to sing songs about me and bow down in front of me and a statue of me as they head back down."

Just the thought of what Snotlout said sent shivers down everyone's spine and Astrid began to feel her stomach clench. Even Marice wrapped her arms around herself, trying to get that image out of her head. "You know, Hiccup," she said, "I think I found something that's worse than my fear of heights."

Before the boy could say anything she took a quick glance below. They were passing over a really big hill that seemed small compared to the large land surrounding it. Letting out a squeal of fright the girl quickly latched herself back onto Hiccup saying, "Never mind, heights is worse."

The sudden movement startled Hiccup but before he could recover, his leg slid out of the latch controlling Toothless' tail. With no one controlling it, the dragon's tail folded back up and Toothless let out a small roar as he began to fall. Caught off guard the two riders ended up flying out of the saddle and began their terrifying descent towards the ground.

Noticing what had happened, Astrid quickly flew Stormfly down hoping to catch them before they crashed. Hiccup was disoriented for a while but quickly got his baring straight when Toothless accidently smacked his arm with his tail. Without wasting another second, he grabbed onto Toothless' saddle and fitted his prosthetic onto the latch. He opened up the dragon's tail and he joined up with Astrid and Violet to reach Marice, who seemed more stunned than terrified.

After she was knocked off, the girl didn't know what to do for a few seconds but once her senses came back, she tried to slow down her descent by opening up the 'wings' on her sled. Unfortunately gravity was pulling her down so fast that the material ended up breaking off from the sled. Hoping to minimize any damage, she turned so that her back was facing the earth. She saw Hiccup rejoining with Toothless and the pair along with Astrid and Violet tried coming down to help her.

Before they could reach her however, she felt her back collide with something made of wood as she fell through someone's roof. Luckily she landed onto the resident's bed, which was made of really soft sheep's wool. Stars danced across her vision for a minute as the owner looked toward her and began shouting.

For a minute she couldn't tell who it was but as her vision and hearing returned to normal, another shiver made its way down her spine. She had just crashed into Mildew's house.

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If you have read this far, thank you for giving my story a chance. Constructive criticism is appreciated and flames with be ignored. Feel free to leave a suggestion or your thoughts about this story. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a couple of days, unless the world ends tomorrow xD


	2. Encounter

Well I spent an entire day working on this chapter and I think it turned out pretty descent. Hopefully I'll have this finished before my imagination decides to ditch me but if it doesn't then I'll still try to finish this. Anyway thanks for reading and please look down to the disclaimer

Disclaimer: I own nothing HTTYD related at all! This story is purely for entertainment purposes only. Any connection to actually events or persons is most likely a coincidence.

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Everyone on Berk knew that there were some things you should never do. 1) Try to take another Viking's weapon, 2) Lie about taking the weapon, 3) Mess around with someone else's spouse, and 4) Put Mildew in an even fouler mood than he's usually in. So far, Marice really wished she was doing number 4.

The girl sometimes saw Mildew around town, mostly to give his daily complaints, but she never really met the old man. Many of the villagers wanted nothing to do with the old Viking and the dragon riders have numerously expressed their dislike of him.

At first she pitied the man and thought about talking to him but never got around to it. Though now would be a bad time to ask if they could properly introduce themselves. The man let out a few swear words as he looked at the roof and then back to Marice, who was slowly beginning to stand up. Beside him stood his sheep Fungus, who let out a 'baa'.

Her vision was still a little blurry but she could make out the other riders landing outside and see Hiccup and Astrid rushing to her. "You blasted teens and your blasted pets!" Mildew complained, not seeming to care that one of the teens wasn't in the best shape to receive a shouting to, "How can an old man have some peace around here with you kids messing up my roof every week?"  
"We're sorry, Mildew," Hiccup apologized, helping Marice steady her balance. Astrid appeared on the girl's other side, trying her best to ignore Mildew's complaints. Marice's head was started to clear up and when the trio were outside, the other kids landed their dragons.

"So how are you feeling?" "Like I fell off a dragon and crashed through someone's roof, Legs," she replied, rubbing a sore spot on her head. Her gaze landed on the hole in Mildew's roof and the shattered pieces of her sled. "And I worked so hard on that thing."

"At least it was the sled and not you," Astrid said, following her gaze, "if you had hit the ground instead of the roof you might not be standing here right now." Astrid's statement instantly silenced the group, but was quickly broken by Violet's small chirping.

The little dragon did a quick circle around Marice's head before settling herself on the human's shoulders. Letting out a small smile, the girl softly rubbed the dragon's head, who let out soft purrs at the action.

"What is going on here?!" a loud voice shouted, startling the teens and dragons. The kids and dragons huddled closer together as Stoick and Thornado landed a few feet in front of them. The chief's eyes fell first to the group, a very angry Mildew second, a giant hole in Mildew's third, and finally back to the kids.

A loud sigh escaped his mouth as he asked, "What happened this time?" "What usually happens," Mildew started, walked forward until he stood a foot from the larger Viking, "These brats and their stupid dragons caused another hole in my roof." Fungus let out what sounded like a 'baa' of agreement.

"Technically," Marice interrupted, earning Stoick's attention, "it was only me that fell through his roof. We were flying over and, I ended up falling off of Toothless." "You fell off Toothless?" Stoick asked, looking genuinely surprised, "How did that happen?"

"It's actually a very short story but the main thing is that I kinda caught Hiccup off guard, he lost control of the tail, the three of us had a very terrifying free fall, I'm still afraid of heights, and Mildew's roof ended up getting damaged." After she finished Stoick's gaze hardened a little, sending a slight shiver down her spine and freaking Violet out enough that the dragon decided to hide in her vest.

"Now don't you see, Stoick," Mildew called out, "dragons are not meant to be ridden on as pets. What if the next time someone falls off and isn't so lucky. She fell off on your son's dragon, and I thought he is supposed to be the best dragon rider."

"Look, dad," Hiccup cut in, stepping forward a little, "I know this looks bad but-" "Of course this is bad," Mildew interrupted, "all of you cause a hole in my roof."

"Enough!" the chief shouted, instantly quieting everyone. Taking another deep breath the man said, "Alright here's the deal: You kids head back to the village and clean the training ring from top to bottom, without the dragons' help. By the time all of you are done it should be sparkling."

Everyone let out a loud groan as Stoick continued, "Marice do you know how to fix a roof?" When the girl answered with a small nod he said, "Alright, then since you were the one to crash into the roof you'll be the one to repair it."

Hiccup was about to protest when his dad raised a hand to him, instantly silencing the small boy. "I know you take part of the blame but we all know that you always make things more difficult than they need to be." Normally the boy would have protested but after seeing the glare in his dad's eyes, he decided it would probably be best not to argue.

"Now wait just a min-" "Mildew, I don't really have the time do deal with your daily complaints. Just show Marice where you keep the materials to your roof and let the others go do their punishment." Without another word the large man hopped back onto his dragon and took off to the sky.

Once they were out of sight Mildew muttered something under his breath and headed toward the back of his house with Fungus following close behind him. "Oh great," Tuffnut complained, "First we get yelled out, now we gotta clean." "And it's all Snotlout's fault," Ruffnut added, crossing her arms.

"What?! I wasn't the one who crashed through the roof!" "No but you were the one who caused it by your idea," Astrid said, feeling her stomach clench again. "Guys look," Marice interrupted, "I think it's sweet that you want to stand up for me but I was the one that fell. Like Astrid said, it could have been a lot worse so think of it as a 'thank you' to Mildew for building his house out here." "I guess that's one way to look at," Hiccup commented, "but if you do need any help you know where we'll be." "Yep, just follow the smoke and nine times out of ten Hiccup will be right there."

With that being said the teens hopped onto their dragons and flew back to the village. When they were gone the girl took a deep breath and headed to the back to get the supplies from Mildew. The sooner she got done with the roof, the sooner she could go back.

The old man was still complaining about the roof and once he caught sight of her, his mood worsened. "Well don't just stand there all day. Everything you need is right there and if you have any questions, don't ask me." Before she could answer he went back to the front of the house to finish his planting.

Violet watched him leave and let a low growl escape her mouth. "Now calm down girl," Marice said, picking up the tools she would need and some wood, "I don't feel like dealing with this either but it's not the worst thing I've ever done. And who knows, maybe this will be fun."

The look the dragon gave her could only be read as, 'Yeah, and one day sheep will grow wings and declare revenge on the human race.'

* * *

"At this rate we should be done in a month." "Oh come on it's not that bad," Astrid said, wiping off some soot, "I'm sure you're dad wasn't serious when he said it had to sparkle." "Yeah I know it's just that I feel kind of bad just leaving her out there." "Calm down, Hiccup," Astrid said, tossing him another wet rag, "You weren't the only one who was flying with her." "Yeah I know that but it's just that, she fell off while she was riding with me so of course I feel a little responsible."

"Look out!" Snotlout called out from above, throwing a bucket of water over the floor. The two quickly moved out of the way as the water made a big splash as it landed. Letting out a sigh of annoyance Hiccup asked, "Why are you throwing water from all the way up there?" "Well I figured it would be easier to wash everything if we just flooded the whole arena. You know, like they do at that place that Marice talks about."

Hiccup ended up doing a soft face palm as he said, "Okay Snotlout for one you will need a lot more than a few buckets of water to fill this place; two, this place isn't designed to hold water; and three, they flooded the coliseum to reenact ship battles, not clean it." Understanding flashed across the other boy's face as Hiccup and Astrid slowly shook their heads.

The teens were making some progress with cleaning but they still had a while to go. Scorch marks took some time to wash out and the twins constant fighting along with Snotlout's ideas didn't make it any easier. Every few minutes they had to refill their water buckets and the only one who could really fill them all up in a decent amount of time was Fishlegs, who couldn't do too much anyway. The only plus side was that all the old dragon cages were cleaned out so their dragons decided to settle in them and watch their riders, except for Hookfang who just slept.

"Man we've been at this for hours, I say we take a break," Tuffnut suggested, not bothering to wait for an answer as he just fell on the stone floor. "We've only been doing this for one hour and all you've two done is argued and fight with each other." "Sounds like an excuse to take a break to me," Ruffnut said, doing the same thing as her brother.

"Hey are we taking a break?" "Might as well, Snotlout," Astrid answering, abandoning her bucket while the dragons joined with their riders.

As the group settled they heard the happy shouts coming from the village as the other Vikings prepared for Snoggletog. The teens couldn't help but feel a little sad about spending their day cleaning instead of decorating and goofing off with everyone else. "Everyone sounds like they're having fun over there," Fishlegs mumbled. "Oh course they are. They aren't stuck here because of Snotlout." "I still don't see how any of this is my fault." This led to the twins, Snotlout, and Fishlegs loudly bickering with one another while Astrid and Hiccup just calmly stroked their dragons.

It wasn't until a few minutes later when Hiccup commented, "I wonder if she's homesick." "Marice?" Astrid questioned, gaining the other's attention. "Yeah, it's just that we're here celebrating with our family and friends but all she really has, is us." "True but what can we do? We can't just yell out and ask her family to come here; even she doesn't know where they split off."

"No, we can't do that," he admitted, his face scrunching as it usually did when an idea was coming to him. "But maybe we could bring some of her home here." "And how do you plan on doing that?" Fishlegs asked. "Well she did say that Snoggletog is kind of like Christmas so maybe we could combine the two."

Out of all the plans that Hiccup had come up with over the years, this one seemed to make the most sense to the others. "You know that doesn't sound like a bad idea," Astrid agreed, "though how are you going to get your dad and the villagers to agree? Some people still don't really trust Marice." "Well we don't have to use all of them. Just the ones that seem like they could fit in with our traditions anyway."

Slowly the others agreed that it wasn't a bad idea and were already discussing what their next move was.

When Marice first looked at the damage, she had no clue how she was going to fix the roof but after seeing how the rest of the roof was designed she figured it out. Of course halfway through the project her mind began to race with different ideas on how to strengthen the roof so that the next time something fell, it wouldn't cause as much damage. It took Violet's constant groans to remind her that she shouldn't get too carried away.

While she was doing that, Mildew was out in his small field trying to get it ready for the planting season. The two hadn't spoken a word to each other since she started and it was really starting to bug her.

Trying to ease the silence she began to softly hum, hammering the nails to match with the rhythm. Violet perked up from her spot a few feet away, even adding in her own off key squeal.

Just when she was really getting into the song, Mildew shouted, "Would you be quiet up there?!" Letting out a sigh she ended her humming and hit the last nail. "Alright, Mildew," she called out, gathering the tools, "the roof is done."

She wasn't surprised when he didn't say anything but didn't let that stop her from heading back down to the ground as quickly as possible. After putting everything back up, she headed to the front of the house.

She stopped a few feet from the hunched Mildew and said, "You're roof is fixed." "Good. Then get lost." Most people would be glad to end it right there but Marice's curiosity wouldn't let her leave just yet.

"Is there a particular reason why you decided to build your house out here?" "Is there a reason why you're still here? I want you and that stupid dragon away from my house." Violet let out a low warning growl but was quickly hushed by Marice.

"It's just that, I've never been to a place where someone chooses to live away from everyone else. Even the grouchiest old man will let his family come see him every now and then." "Well that sounds lovely," he stated, straightening up, "but in case you haven't noticed, you're on Berk. We do things different around here as you can see."

The stare he sent Marice made her feel about three times smaller, it was probably worse for Violet who was receiving the most of it. "Dragons," he hissed, "the only good dragon is a dead dragon I say." "Have you tried getting to know a dragon?"

Marice has seen almost all there is see in the world but one thing she would never thought she would see was Mildew laughing as if someone told him a good joke. The laugher continued on for another few minutes until he finally calmed down enough to say, "And why would I try to get to know the beasts that have made my life miserable for as long as I can remember? Ever since I was little I always hated them and I still hate them. They're nothing less than the devil's spawn and the sooner we get rid of them, the better."

Throughout his little speech Marice kept quiet so she could gather the information she was receiving. So far it seemed that Mildew's hatred for the dragons had started in his early childhood and didn't seem to shake off after peace was made between human and dragon.

Hoping to stall for a little more information she asked, "Even if they are the devil's spawn, it still doesn't mean we can't coexist with them. Why is it hard for you to give them a chance?"

"Simple, because they lost they're chances with me when they destroyed everything that I loved." For a moment his voice seemed to falter and it felt like there was genuine sadness in his next words. "When I was young all you really had to do was kill a dragon to earn everyone's respect. And I'm not afraid to admit that I killed many of them during my warrior days. But now, no one wants to hear about old stories about the people who spent weeks hunting down the beasts who took away their loved ones. Or the nights where the fire and smoke would make people not go to sleep for days for fear of waking up to find themselves experiencing fiery deaths. No, no one wants to hear about the past anymore and those of us who live it are forced to either bend to the present's will or be left behind."

Mildew didn't say anything for a long while and Marice could almost see the old memories in is eyes; a happy young kid, a fierce warrior, a protector, and maybe a lover thrown into the mix.

With her curiosity mostly settled, she said a small 'good-bye' to Mildew and started walking to the village. She wasn't more than a few feet away when she heard him softly whisper the name "Ingrith."

* * *

And that's it for chapter 2. I hope I'm not confusing anybody too much yet but if I am please feel free to ask me any question and I'll try to answer it as soon as possible. As always thanks for reading and leave your thoughts, suggestions, or constructive criticism. Flames will be ignored and put out by imaginary firefighting kitties.


	3. Plans

I don't know if it's the holiday season, my love of HTTYD, or my craziness but my imagination sure seems to want me to finish this. I'm still hoping to finish this by Christmas (December 25th) or at least close to it. By the way things are going however I might be able to. Until then I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

Disclaimer: I am not awesome enough to come up with HTTYD. The books belong to Cressida Cowell and the movie belongs to DreamWorks. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Any connection to historical persons or events is most likely coincidental.

* * *

Deciding that the arena was as clean as is was going to get, the group decided to go help with the holiday decorations while Hiccup and Astrid went to go talk to Stoick. They eventually found the chief talking to Gobber at the blacksmith/ dragon dentist's shop, which was hardly recognizable with all the decorations.

The older Vikings stopped talking as they caught sight of the teens approaching them. Once Stoick noticed who it was he let out a loud sigh, saying, "If the arena isn't sparkling then you might as well go back and finish cleaning." "Okay dad first of, it's almost impossible to scrub the arena that well and two, do you remember what you told me last year around this time?"

"Tell Toothless that my boots are not chew toys and if he blasts another hole in the roof then he's sleeping outside?" "Um, no not that. I'm talking about what you said about the holidays." "Don't tell Gobber that his decorating looks like a dragon threw up all over his house?" "Hey, I think it look more like a tree threw up on it."

Letting out a soft groan the boy finally said, "No. I'm talking about what you said about that when you can't spend the holidays with someone you love that you celebrate them." "Yes, I do remember saying that. What of it?"

"Well it's just that I was thinking-" "Oh great," Gobber interrupted, rolling his eyes, "you might want to stop him right there." Stoick sent his friend a soft glare and gestured his son to continue. "As I was saying, it's just that Marice looks like she's been feeling a little home sick, especially because our holiday reminds her of her holiday."

"Alright I see how that makes sense but what do you expect me to do about it?" "Well the others and I were thinking that maybe we could take some of her traditions and add it into our holiday."

At first Stoick didn't say anything while Gobber commented, "Look, Hiccup, you know I don't mind doing some crazy things for the holidays but I'm not willing to change our traditions." "We don't have to change anything, Gobber," Astrid stated, "all we want to do is just add a few small things that may help cheer Marice up."

"Look you two," Stoick finally said, "I think it's nice how you want to do something nice for your friend, but you should know that there are some things that we don't like to add or change. Not to mention that some people think that the gods are mad at us for taking her in." "So does that mean that your answer is a no?"

The teens became a little worried when he didn't answer right away as he seemed to think about his decision. Finally though he answered, "I'm just saying that you better tread carefully." The riders looked at each other for a second and their faces instantly brightened at the answer.

"Thank you so much, dad." "Yes, yes I know. Now run along you two, and try to stay out of trouble."

The two instantly took off into the village to find the others and tell them the good news.

The first place Marice headed to when the village came into sight was the training arena. She figured the others would still be there cleaning but after investigating the ring, that wasn't the case. While the arena wasn't spotless, it did look a lot better than usual.

"They must have already finished up and went to help set up for Snoggletog," Marice said to Violet. "Maybe if we walk around we'll meet up with them."

As the two entered the main center of the village, the girl couldn't help but let out a sigh of awe.

While the decorations weren't as crazy as her family's, they were still quite impressive. Almost every house was decorated with carefully tied branches and colored lanterns. What looked like holly branches were draped on the roofs and huge wreaths were placed on almost every door. In the center of the village was a giant tree constructed of wood, painted green, and then decorated with different shields held up by nails and Nadder spikes. Most of the adults were carrying long beams and branches to finish decorating so Marice had a little trouble looking for the others while making sure her head stayed on.

Eventually she managed to get past the chaos but still didn't see any sign of her friends. Letting out an annoyed sigh she was just about to look again when she caught sight of a familiar face.

"Agatha!" she called out, catching someone's attention. A large woman with bright red hair that was split into two braids rested her dark brown eyes on the girl and immediately let out a large smile. Marice ran over to meet her as the woman set up a few wreaths along someone's pillars.

"And where have you been all day, lass?" Agatha asked when the young girl stopped right next to her. "Oh you know just playing, flying, trying get over my fear of heights, and falling through Mildew's roof." The older woman let out a small chuckle as she hammered a nail into the wood.

Once she was sure it would hold she placed one of the wreaths on. "Well just as long as you made it back in one piece." "Yeah, so anyway I was wondering if I could ask you about a few things."

Agatha began hammering in another nail as she said, "You're going to ask them anyway so shoot." Marice took a deep breath and started, "How long has Mildew been around?" "Hm," the other started, hanging on another wreath, "I remember him being around since I was a little girl so probably over 20 years. Why do you ask?" "It's just… Everyone here doesn't really seem to like him much and I'm just wondering why. I know he's very rude but I still don't see that as a reason to dislike him that much."

Agatha didn't say anything for a while as she concentrated with her work but after a few minutes she said, "It's a bit more complicated than that. I remember when Mildew was a whole lot younger he was actually a pretty popular guy. He wasn't the strongest Viking around but he was pretty good a planning out raids and could hold up his own if confronted. I remember one time that he actually fought off two Nightmares so us kids could put out the fires without getting hurt."

"Wow, so what happened to him?" "If my memory is correct then his behavior changed after Ingrith died." "Ingrith?" Marice questioned, remembering the name that she heard Mildew say. "Yep. Ingrith was a very wild and strong Viking but she was also a very caring person. Anytime someone needed something she would help them and always put herself second. Her and Mildew were very close and I think they were actually engaged."

Agatha had finished putting up the last of the wreaths so she headed back to her house with Marice following close behind. "So what happened to her? Did she break off the engagement or something?"

The girl immediately quieted down when she noticed her caretaker's face turn sad. "No they didn't break off the engagement, they didn't even have chance to marry. A week before the wedding there was a violent dragon raid. The two of them were off fighting a couple of Nadders near the large catapult when everyone heard the sound of a Night Fury getting ready to fire. Before the two could get to safety the beast blasted at the catapult. Mildew managed to get out of the way in time but Ingrith wasn't so lucky."

The woman turned to open her door and ushered the girl inside. The house was just like the others on Berk; an open first floor, a hearth in the center, some furniture, walls covered with shields and weapons, and bedrooms on the second floor. Almost every space was decorated for the season and there was a light aroma of something sweet slowly being cooked in the pot above the crackling hearth.

Once the door was closed and they settled down at the table she continued, "We lost quite a few Vikings that day but the loss of Ingrith really tore Mildew up inside. After that, he grew very serious and would attack any dragon that he saw. Unlike some Vikings though Mildew didn't let his anger cloud his judgment on the battlefield. He proved himself to be a good commander and even led some groups into battles. Eventually though his age caught up with him so his warrior days were over."

Marice stayed quiet for a minute, taking in all this new information. "So I guess he never tried to find love again." "Well actually he did have three wives, all who died during dragon raids. While he probably didn't love them near as much as he did Ingrith, he was still pretty sad when they died. Eventually that sadness manifested into rage and now that we don't kill dragons anymore, that rage is almost eating him up."

Agatha stood up and headed out to finish decorating saying to Marice, "I'll be around the village if you need me. And try not to think too much about Mildew. Some people just aren't meant to be around people." With that being said she closed the door leaving the girl in silent thought.

Violet, who had stayed on the girl's shoulder the whole time, decided to go investigate what was in the pot while her friend was thinking. Marice's mind was having a hard time adjusting to all the new information and all she wanted to do was forget about Mildew and go look for her friends. However, she also felt that she couldn't just dismiss the old man that easy.

Sure he was a total grouch, talked bad about anybody who looked at him the wrong way, didn't seem to care about his physical appearance, and would do anything to ruin the peace between human and dragon. Despite all that though, his behavior did make sense now that she knew a little about his past. Of course now that led to her instinct to help anyone who needed help. And giving some happiness to a grouchy old man did qualify as helping.

"But what can I do?" she asked out loud, startling Violet who almost knocked over what seemed to be stew. "I can't change the past, I don't want to get rid of the dragons, but I also don't want him being so grouchy while everyone else is being so cheerful."

Slowly she stood up and began pacing around the room looking at the decorations. So far she's seen that every house in the village was decorated but Mildew's didn't even have a holly branch. She also knew that some houses, like the one she was living in now, had helmets and boots which kind of acted like the stockings she had at home. Of course that was usually for the kids and teens who still more or less acted like kids. Not to mention that family and friends also exchanged gifts with one another, though most of the time it was just weapons. But since Mildew was, well Mildew, his house was so far away that it wouldn't matter if he decorated and since he didn't have any family or friends (except for Fungus) there was very little chance of him getting anything.

Frustrated she banged her head against the wall but instantly regretted it when her head made contact with one of the shields. The pain wasn't too bad and she was actually used to things like that. What got her attention though was the design on one of the shields.

The design was made up of random blocks of color and each color seemed to have its own shape. Red blocks had triangles, green blocks had circles, blue blocks had squares, and in the center was a star surrounded by yellow. It appeared to be hand painted and though the design wasn't very elaborate, Vikings weren't know for being very creative, it probably still meant a lot that the person took time to make it for the receiver.

"That's it!" she called out, one again startling Violet who had flown over to see what the girl was staring. "I'll just give Mildew a gift. Then maybe that might help cheer him up." Her dragon gave her the same look that said, 'Yeah, and one day sheep will grow wings and declare revenge on the human race.'

"Oh who asked you anyway?" With that she quickly ran up to her room which was decorated with holly branches, old and shiny metal bent like spears, paper angels, and a hand drawn Christmas tree with lit candles and decorations on it. By her desk she put up another picture, this one of the Nativity scene she had told the others about. The only difference was that it included both farm animals and dragons. On the top of the barn she drew a bright star that rested on the tail of a dark shadowed dragon that looked down to the manger.

Casting a small smile to the drawing she grabbed the closet sheet of clean paper and began to sketch.

* * *

Alright that's all there is for this chapter. Thank you for reading this far and if you have any suggestions, constructive criticism, or questions don't be afraid to tell me. There may be some spelling or grammar mistakes so if you catch any please tell me. It's 3 am so my mind might not have been in the best state to catch them.


	4. Disaster

Well here's the next chapter out, I know kind of late but for some reason I had trouble writing it out. Plus I've been busy with the holiday season so that also took some time away. I also know I said I'll try to have this done by Christmas but due to the reasons previously listed, that goal has failed. Technically however Christmas doesn't really end until next week on the Epiphany, which is when the wise men are supposed to come so also technically I still have a few more days to finish this.

Anyway I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas/ happy holidays and thanks for reading this far.

Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with HTTYD, either from the books or the movie. Any relation to actual persons or events is most likely coincidental.

* * *

After Stoick had said yes, the pair decided to split off again. Astrid headed towards the harbor to help the others decorate and tell them what was happening while Hiccup went to find Marice.

The first place he and Toothless checked out was Mildew's house. As they flew over they saw that the roof was already fixed so they decided to see if she was at the arena looking for them. However they didn't find her there either.

"She must be looking for us in the village," Hiccup said to Toothless as they landed at the entrance. Despite having the academy for many months, Hiccup still could not believe that it was really his. While there was still a ways to go before dragon and human truly trusted one another, he and his friends have made some progress.

Toothless, noticing his rider's expression, softly placed his head under Hiccups arm and let out a soft purr like sound when the boy started scratching his head. "Alright bud we better keep looking." The dragon crouched down as the boy climbed onto his back and immediately flew back up when he was secured.

They flew over the village but couldn't catch sight of the small girl in the large crowds. He was just about to give up finding her and join up with the others when he saw Agatha. Figuring she might know where the girl was, Hiccup steered Toothless down to land beside the large woman. She glanced at them for a second and went back to hanging garlands across a house saying, "Nice to see you, Hiccup. You too, Toothless."

"Nice to see you too, Agatha," Hiccup greeted sliding off Toothless' back to hand her some more nails. "Thank you, lad," she said, grabbing one and started hammering it into the wood. "Now what can I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you've seen Marice. We checked to see if she was at Mildew's but since his roof was fixed I figured she might have come here." "Oh yeah, she told me a little about that. For being afraid of heights the lass sure likes to go riding." "Actually it's more of a fear of falling than heights."

"I don't blame her," Agatha stated, hanging up another strand. "Sure I don't mind having a lift if it has to do with fixing roofs or something but once you go past that, you better be prepared to get me down faster than Thor's lightening bolt." Once she had finished she looked down at the boy and said, "Just what are you up to this time, lad?"

"Me? Up to anything? Wh-What makes you think I'm up to anything?" "You got that look in your eye that shows you've been planning something. So out with it; what are you up to?" A little embarrassed about being found out like that Hiccup replied, "Well lately I've noticed Marice seems to be a little homesick, especially now because her holiday is so much like ours. So I was thinking that it would be nice to add some of her holiday traditions with our celebration."

The older Viking stared at the younger one for a while until she finally said, "Are you going to tell her your idea?" "Actually I was kind of hoping to keep it a surprise, you know?" Deeming that his reason was well enough Agatha answered, "Last time I saw her she was at the house."

"Alright thanks, Agatha." The woman watched as the boy and dragon headed to her house thinking, '_Those two better not mess anything up_.'

* * *

Just as she was adding the last few touches to her drawing, Marice heard a bang on her roof and quickly drew her attention to the open slot that acted as a window. A large dark shape moved around for a while and then Toothless popped his head in. Sliding off his back was Hiccup who asked the girl, "Mind if we come in for a bit?"

Smiling she answered, "Not at all. Just be careful." The dragon gracefully jumped in and managed to avoid hitting anything. His rider was less graceful and accidentally took down a holly branch before being caught by Toothless.

The boy shyly scratched the back of his head as he offered the branch to Marice saying, "Sorry about that." Letting a soft chuckle she walked over and took the branch from him and said, "It's fine. I was planning on moving this thing anyway." Happy to see that she wasn't mad at him, he allowed his gaze to shift to the room.

Noticing the decorations he commented, "Looks like you've been getting ready to celebrate your holiday." "Yep," she said, letting a smile stretch across her face, "it doesn't really feel like Christmas but I'm sure my family is going to be looking at the same stars."

Confused Hiccup asked, "What do you mean by that?" Placing the branch on the table Marice started, "It's a saying my parents came up with when they started liking each other. Sometimes they had to split up for a while so they promised each other that whenever they were feeling alone they would look up at the sky and believe that the other was looking up with them. I also remember that when my good friend died my mother took me aside and told me that if I ever miss her, just look at the stars and she'll be sure to find some way to tell me that she's there. So eventually it just became a thing in our family to look up and believe that we're still with each other, even if we're not."

As she finished her explanation, Hiccup's gaze traveled the drawing on her desk. The design was of a neat circle with a four pointed star in the center. Between each point there were several smaller triangles drawn in. From the shading it looked like the circle was supposed to be some type of decoration.

Following his stare Marice quickly tried to hide it under some papers, stuttering, "T-That's just something random I kind of drew. N-Nothing important about it at all." Hiccup was about to make a comment when his eyes caught sight of another drawing that was hanging above her desk. Seeing his attention shifted to the other drawing, Marice stated, "That would be my interpretation of the nativity. Even though there are no dragons over there, I figured the family wouldn't mind having some reptilian, fire breathing company with them."

"Well dragons do make good companions. Right bud?" Toothless answered by rubbing his head against Hiccup's side, letting out soft rumbles from his throat. Violet, who had been napping by the bed, heard the question and flew over to land on Marice's shoulders.

"So what brings you over here anyway?" she asked, rubbing the small dragon's head. "Oh, that. Well it's just that… You were so happy when you talked about Christmas that I was just wanting to make sure you weren't feeling, you know, depressed because you're away from your family, some people still don't really trust you, and um…" He stopped there as he saw his friend casually crossing her arms, a sign that his words were beginning to annoy her. "Or I could just stop there."

Chuckling Marice uncrossed her arms and said, "Look Hiccup, I'm grateful that you're being nice and stuff, but don't worry too much about me, alright? The nicest thing you could do for me is to enjoy the holidays with your family and friends, okay?"

Sighing he answered, "Alright, if that's what you want." Nodding she looked through her window and asked, "Do you know where the others are?" "They should still be down at the harbor decorating. Why? Do you want to go see them?"

"No, I was just curious. If you don't mind, can I have some time to myself? I'm trying to think of something to give to Agatha and I'm sure everyone is wondering where you are right now." "Now it's okay, I should probably be going anyway. Do you mind if I go through your door? I don't want to knock anything else off; unless there is something you want to take down." "No, I think I'm alright with how things look now. Go ahead and use the door."

Quickly the two friends went down the stairs and once she heard the door close, Marice let out a huge sigh. "Man," she said to Violet, pulling out her drawing, "I'm glad he wasn't going to ask me about this." The tiny dragon looked at the picture and then to the girl.

"If you must know, I'm planning on carving this and giving it to someone. And no, I am not telling you who it is." The dragon let out a disappointed huff, knowing that it probably wasn't for her.

* * *

Hiccup met back up with the others and after exchanging some more ideas, the group decided that they would try to handle everything while keeping it a secret from their friend. The only one who really seemed to have a problem with everything was Fishlegs.

He was worried that the gods may get mad at them for trying to help someone with their god and send down their wrath on them. It took awhile but eventually Astrid managed to convince him that if it was for a friend, the gods wouldn't be that mad at them.

The day was getting late so everyone decided that they've done enough for one day and went to their houses, except Hiccup who said he had one thing to take care of.

Hopping back onto Toothless, he went to see if he could find Bucket. He found the forgetful Viking with Mulch working with the animals. When the two saw the pair descend Mulch greeted, "Nice to see you, Hiccup. How are the preparations for Snoggletog going?"

"So far so good," he answered, sliding off Toothless. The dragon looked around until it caught sight of the sheep. His eyes scanned the creatures, looking for the sheep that had first trusted him during the storm. Once the dragon found them, he happily hopped over to it and gave it a playful nudge. The other sheep didn't seem to care that there was a dragon with them and went right back to eating.

"Anyway, Mulch, I was wondering if I could ask Bucket a favor." "Well if it's reasonable I don't see why not. Hey, Bucket," Mulch called out. The other man was sitting by a yak, trying to remember if the yak gave milk or eggs. Hearing his name, Bucket got up from his seat and walked over asking, "Hey Mulch does the yak give eggs or milk?"

Sighing he answered, "Yaks give milk, Bucket. Anyway Hiccup here wants to ask you something." Mulch gestured the boy to speak, turning Bucket's attention from his friend to the young Viking. "Bucket I know you're a great artist so I was wondering if you would be willing to paint something for me."

The other man thought for a minute and answered, "Well I could give it a try. What do you need me to paint?" "Okay first, you remember Marice right?" "The lass who washed up here months ago? Sure. Maybe. Um… is she the small one who helped me find my way back home." "Yes."

"Oh yeah I do!" "Alright well she's been kind of homesick lately so I was wondering if you could paint her something to help remind her of home." "Hm," Bucket said, seeming to think, "I guess I could, but what do you want me to paint?"

Grinning Hiccup pulled out his sketch book and flipped it to an empty page. He drew a quick sketch of the scene with the family and the dragons and showed it to Bucket. The man looked at it for a minute then answered, "I probably could. When do you want it?" "By Snoggletog would be nice, if that's alright with you."

"Oh yes, I could have it done by then. Now, is she supposed to know about this?" "No, Bucket. I'm hoping to keep this a secret from her. You know, so that when she first sees it she'll be surprised." "Oh, okay I can do that." "Thanks, Bucket," Hiccup said, ripping out the page from his book.

He gave it to the older Viking and called out, "Come on, Toothless. We should head back." The dragon looked over to his rider then to his sheep friend. The farm animal gave a small baa and the dragon bounded over to his rider.

Climbing up on Toothless' back, Hiccup turned back to the other two and said, "I'll try to come by and get the painting before hand. If I don't, would you mind taking it to the celebration with you?" "Don't worry, lad. We'll take care of it."

After saying thank you again, the pair flew up and headed home.

* * *

The next few days the group of friends hardly seemed to see each other. The Viking teens were always called off to help with the preparations so Marice spent most of her time in the forest carving out her gift. Since today was the day, she was finishing up on some last minute details.

She managed to carve out the circle and had already finished the main star. All that was really left to do was add in the back stars and give it to Mildew. The only problem was that she couldn't think of a good way to give it to him.

From what she heard around the village, Mildew hasn't attended a Snoggletog celebration in years. When he did he was always off in the corner complaining about anything that he could think of. "Oh well," she called out to Violet, "I'll just have to figure it tonight."

Once she was satisfied with the way it looked, she hid it in her boots and began walking to the village.

Meanwhile the others were together discussing what they were going to do tonight. They had everything they would need to decorate so all that was left was for someone to distract Marice before it was time.

"I volunteer to watch her," Fishlegs said, but was immediately turned down. "Ah, but why not?" "Because you have a hard time keeping secrets," Snotlout stated, "but I'm pretty good at it."

"Don't you remember the last time the two of you were left by yourselves?" Astrid asked, crossing her arms. "So a few trees caught on fire and she was terrified of Nightmares, I'm sure things will go better this time." "I think it's better to be safe than sorry on this one, Snotlout," Hiccup replied.

"Oh great, so you're going to watch her then, Hiccup?" Snotlout complained, "Why is it that whenever we're separated she and him are always together?" "Because we share many interests and she only trust me or Astrid whenever we go riding." "I would volunteer," Astrid said, "But my mom says she needs me to run some last minute errands so I can't." Sighing Snotlout said, "Fine, but I call the next time."

With that settled Hiccup and Toothless immediately went to find Marice. The two caught sight of her heading to her house and quickly met up with her. Seeing them the girl let out a huge smile saying, "Hey you two. I guess you guys are ready for tonight." "Oh yes, of course. Before that though, I was wondering if you would like to come on a ride with us. We haven't seen each other in the past few days so I figured that you would like to tag along."

"I would love to," she answered, making sure that her gift was still safely hidden in her boots.

With that being said, the two of them swung onto Toothless' back, Violet settling on her master's shoulders as usual, and then the Night Fury took off. Marice held on tightly to Hiccup for the first few minutes as they ascended but once they leveled off, she began to slowly relax.

The day was very clear and there was hardly any wind blowing. Hiccup could sense that Toothless wanted to try out some of their crazy stunts, not that the boy blamed him since he was feeling that way too. However, he knew that if they did with the girl on board she would be so freaked out she might never want to leave the ground.

So they just contented themselves with simply flying a straight path to the other side of the island. At first the weather seemed about the same as when they first started but as they flew on, the sky seemed to darken and the wind began to pick up. The two weren't too bothered by the sudden change, they did live on Berk after all, but it did freak Marice a little. Sure she was used to raging winds whenever she was out on the open sea but at least if she fell she would land in the water and not twenty miles from the ground.

Marice wasn't the only one to notice the change. Toothless was the first to notice the change in weather which Hiccup quickly picked up on. Even Violet was getting a little worried. The little dragon, afraid of being blown away, snuggled into the girl's vest. "Maybe we should head back," the boy said, positioning the tail to turn them around. Finally finding her voice Marice commented, "I don't like this, Hiccup. I feel like something is going to happen." "Well if you hadn't noticed by now, things always happen when I'm around," the boy commented, trying to ease the tension.

Before the other could say anything else, a really strong gust of wind blew over them and Hiccup was barely able to stabilize Toothless. Unfortunately the wind began to pick up and it wasn't long before Hiccup lost all control of Toothless' tail.

Toothless tried his best to position himself so that they weren't falling so fast, but no matter what he tried, their descend didn't slow down one bit. Terrified out of her mind, Marice clung onto Hiccup so tight that the boy could barely get any air into his lungs. Knowing that there was nothing that he could do to get them airborne again he shouted, "I have an idea! Toothless, get ready to catch us!" Without waiting to see if the dragon understood, he unhooked his metal leg and turned to grab Marice. The girl let out a cry of protest but her discomfort was ignored by Hiccup as he pushed them out of the saddle.

Toothless quickly noticed them falling right next to him and didn't waste anytime. He grabbed the two teens with his legs then folded his wings as they neared the ground. In the back of his mind he was reminded of when he had done the same move to rescue his friend during the battle with the Red Death.

Terrified that the worst would happen, Marice quickly uttered a small prayer while Hiccup just held onto her tighter. It wasn't long before they felt the dragon collide with the snow. For a while all they could feel was Toothless trying to stop as he collided with what felt like trees or rocks.

Finally he ended up sliding into a large pile of snow and let the two teens go. Just when they thought they were safe however, the ice under them let out a loud crack and the group fell once again. This time they managed to land on a thicker sheet of ice that didn't seem to give away anytime soon. Both of them immediately sat up and began to shiver as they took note of their surroundings.

They had landed in a large ice cave and due to the ice breaking, the entrance was almost covered by snow. While the ceiling wasn't very high, it was still too high for them to jump out of. Turning away from the ceiling the pair investigated Toothless' tail, but that only worsened their mood. Not only was the material tattered, the metal was frozen solid so even if the tail was intact it wouldn't be able to open.

"Great," Marice said, carefully standing up on the slippery ice, "how are we supposed to get out of here?" Her voice sent out a small echo, showing that the cave was larger than they thought.

Just when it seemed like it couldn't get any worse, when Hiccup tried standing up he immediately fell back down in pain. "What's wrong?" "I think it's my leg." Letting out a loud sigh the two examined the metal prosthetic and couldn't help but frown.

The second fall had managed to knock the spring from the rest of the metal and the impact had also caused the thing to be bent at a very odd angle. "Oh great," he mumbled, "Just when I was finally getting used to it."

Despite their situation, Marice let out a small smile as she re-inspected the ceiling. While there were parts of the ice that seemed weak, they couldn't risk having more snow fall on them, especially since Toothless couldn't fly and Hiccup couldn't walk. The only way she could think of getting them out of their situation was if she climbed out and went to find help.

She voiced her idea to Hiccup who just slowly nodded saying, "That seems to be the only way. But who are you planning to get? Mostly everyone is celebrating Snoggletog and the village is miles away." "I'll figure something out. In the mean time, Violet should stay here and help you try to unfreeze Toothless' tail."

The small dragon let out a roar of protest but was silence as Marice said, "Look I know you don't want to split up, but I need you to help them. If you don't, they might not make it before I get help. Do you understand?" The Terror seemed to think it over for a second before giving her a soft nod, flying out of the vest.

"Alright so far so good, but how are you planning on getting out of here?" "Simple. If Toothless and Violet melt the place where we fell, there's a good chance that the ceiling won't cave in. Then Toothless can just try to throw me up."

While it wasn't the best of plans, it seemed to be the only option they had. "Okay. Toothless, you know what to do." "You too, Violet." Together the two dragons fired their best shots at the ceiling. Nothing seemed to happen for a while and the teens were beginning to think the plan wouldn't work but once they saw daylight appear, they began to hope a little.

Carefully Marice crouched down on Toothless' tail and after a good luck from Hiccup, the Night Fury propelled the girl up. She barely managed to grab onto the ice and carefully pulled herself up, not wanting to risk cracking the ice.

When she was safely out she looked down at the three and shouted, "I promise to be back as soon I can." Without waiting for a reply she moved away until her feet found more solid ground. Muttering another pray, she looked around hoping to see something familiar.

Not surprisingly the landscape was nothing but snow and trees, and there was nothing to help her find out which way she could go. All she knew was that they had been traveling northwest before they were flown off and with the wind blowing the clouds in all directions, she couldn't see the sun. After thinking about it for a while, she pulled out her wood carving and looked at the.

Up close she could clearly see the star designs but as she held it back, it began to look more like a compass. Suddenly an idea came to her and while it seemed crazy, she was willing to try anything.

"Please, God," she whispered, holding the object to her chest above her cross, "I need a miracle." With that she tossed it into the air where it was quickly taken by the wind. The object flew over a few feet before finally landing on the ground.

Quickly she looked to where the top point led to. Hoping that the direction would lead her the right way, she made careful noted of which direction she was going and picked up the object. Taking a deep breath she headed to what she hoped would be help.

* * *

And that's where I'll end it. I hope I didn't drag it too long, especially the beginning. If so, sorry but my mind only lseems to only ike to think up cool things for the middle scenes. Anyway thanks for reading and if you have a comment/ suggestion/ question, don't be afraid to write it out. Also, if there were any spelling or grammar mistakes don't be afraid to point them out. Thanks again for reading.


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